WHAT ARE THE PARTS OF A REPORT / REPORT? - CULTURE VOCABULARY - 2025

The most prominent parts of a report or report are index, summary, introduction, analysis, and bibliography. It can also include annexes and preliminary pages. The reports can also be called reports. This is because in the English language the word used to refer to this type of document is report.

A report is a document whose main objective is to make known some type of information or knowledge, generally the product of an investigation or of previously occurring events.

These documents serve to communicate any situation that merits in different professional areas. Many professionals such as journalists require daily reporting.

The facts presented in a report must be products of a work previously carried out by the author.

Any research must meet the scientific and methodological parameters so that it can be taken into account in the academic field and thus the content of the report can be endorsed. The report must be complete and supported.

Generally, the reports are presented in writing, so in addition to the methodological parameters that must be followed, some style rules need to be applied so that the work presented has a consistent and appropriate style, and thus not detract from the result of the investigation.

Reports, like all documents, have a segmented structure in subtitles.

The parts of the report are often inferred, but it is always important to follow an order in which all the necessary information to be captured is grouped. You may also be interested in seeing the 7 main parts of a written assignment.

The main parts of a report / report

1- Preliminary pages

Although they are not necessary in all cases, if an academic report, focused on scientific research, is presented to an institution, it will probably require preliminary pages within its style guidelines.

In addition to the essential cover page where the name of the institution that performs it, to which it is presented or published and the different subordinate bodies, the name of the author or authors, the date and the title of the work must be indicated; the institution may require the addition of some pages that show the approval of the previously submitted project.

2- Indices

All reports have a table of contents by means of which the information issued by the report is updated at first. This information is later expanded thanks to the various means used to disseminate what is produced.

There are other indexes such as tables or figures. Also, if you have a significant number of attachments, you may need an attachment index.

3- Summary

Aimed especially at reports that are viewed as possible scholarly articles, reports can have a small summary of a long paragraph that can exceed ten lines.

In it, a brief description of the content that the report will have will be made. Generally, the summary is done in English with the abstract name and in the source language of the report.

4- introduction

It is the essential part of a job, the reading of a report or report depends mainly on it. With it, the Arabic numbering begins to be applied to the pages, because in the previous ones the Roman numbering is used.

An introduction is that part that allows the reader to have a first approach to the subject and provide him with the knowledge he must know to continue reading.

The purpose of the report should be implicit in the wording of the introduction, as well as the context of the situation in which the work was carried out. It must specify what are the limitations that the report had for the concretion of its realization.

Finally, the work methodology used for the report must be clear in the introduction. Many recommend that the introduction be the last thing written in a report.

5- Discussion and analysis

Once the introductory part of the work is finished, the part of the development of the content begins immediately, in which the proposals will be presented through different methods and will be submitted for discussion by the community in which it is proposed. This section consists of the method, results, discussion and conclusions:

Methods

Whether it is a report whose research was entirely documentary or based on personal experiences, it is essential to clarify what is the methodology used to present the different postulates that are presented in the report.

The information concerning the methods must include the equipment that was used for the writing of the present investigation, as well as the explanation of the procedures carried out, references to inconveniences found and any type of related information.

Results

Through a report, a specific audience is informed about the results of a specific investigation or an audit of sources.

The results section usually reflects the results directly in the form of a graph or table so that they are later analyzed in the discussion. However, there are authors who prefer that the results and the discussion occupy the same place.

Discussion

It is the central and determining part of the report. This section is never titled with the name Discussion or another similar one that is determined, but on the contrary, the title is adapted to the type of work that is being carried out and the development of the text that is desired.

If the report is the product of an investigation, it can be qualitative or quantitative, so the development of this section can be inductive or deductive. The language used in the text must correspond to that of the audience.

This section consists of exposing what was previously stated in the results and, where appropriate, what was investigated. It is recommended to divide this section into multi-level subtitles so that it can broadly cover everything desired by the author.

In addition, it is common to find suggestions regarding the focus on the content to be analyzed without digressing into theoretical content.

Conclusions

This section can be titled as Conclusion, Conclusions or even Final Thoughts depending on the methodological focus of the report. Conclusions turn out to be one of the most important sections of a report and on which its success depends.

The conclusion should be limited to the objectives of the report. In a maximum of one or two pages, it should be indicated if the objectives set by the author previously were achieved.

Additionally, the results of the analysis of the report's discussion can be reflected in this final section and if they can contribute to the discussion, regardless of the scope in which it is generated.

One of the most important points to keep in mind when writing a conclusion is that it cannot at any time provide new material. Everything exposed here should have been raised previously.

6- Bibliography or bibliographic references

It is probably the most cumbersome section and the one that should be paid the most attention, since an inadvertent citation error can be classified as plagiarism. To make a bibliography, it is imperative to choose a style manual with which to follow its parameters.

For example, in the manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) the bibliographic references are only those that were mentioned in the body of the work, while the bibliography is any document or resource used to carry out the research. In this case, the author can choose which of the two types to use.

Regardless of the style manual chosen, the bibliography must strictly follow its rules, in addition to avoiding errors such as not adding documents that were cited in the text in this part.

The correct arrangement of all the references used in the text, as well as additional content, gives credibility to the report and allows readers to expand their knowledge in the areas that are of interest to them.

7- Annexes

Although optional, annexes are always a useful supplementary tool in the outline made to develop a report.

They basically consist of additional information, generally photographs, text fragments, tables, video captures, maps, cartograms, drawings, among others.

This type of material serves to complement the information provided in the text, but which, for reasons of space, could not be incorporated directly.

Special care must be taken not to introduce new information in the annexes and that these are always only complementary and broaden the reader's vision on certain matters to be discussed.

Many manuals recommend that in the case of very technical language being used, a glossary could be included in the annexes. Depending on the style manual used, it will be determined whether or not the incorporation of an index of annexes is necessary.

References

1. Arias, F. (1999). The research project: introduction to scientific methodology. Caracas, Venezuela: Editorial Episteme.
2. College of the North Atlantic (nd). Requirements for Preparing Your Work Term Report. Stephenville, Canada: College of the North Atlantic. Retrieved from
3. KU Leuven (nd.). Report writing: structure and content. Leuven, Belgium: KU Leuven. Recovered from eng.kuleuven.be.
4. Trías, S. (2009) Guide to writing in the APA style, 6th edition. Caracas, Venezuela: Library of the Metropolitan University.
5. University of New South Wales. (sf). How to write a report: the four basic parts. Sydney, Australia: The Learning Center, University of New South Wales. Recovered from vaniercollege.qc.ca.
6. University of Otago. (sf). The key elements of a report. Dunedin, New Zealand: University of Otago. Recovered from otago.ac.nz.
7. University of Surrey (nd). Writing Skills. Surrey, UK: University of Surrey. Recovered from libweb.surrey.ac.uk.